Reel switching device for a double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous winding machine

ABSTRACT

In a reel switching device for a double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous winding machine a set of pushing rollers and a set of guide rollers are provided to operate in association with the movement of a traverser to guide a wire from a fully wound reel to an empty reel at the position of one of its flanges, whereby simultaneously with the movement of the traverser, one of the pushing rollers is actuated to push the wire outwardly over the flange of the empty reel and one of the guide rollers is actuated to push the wire inwardly away from the flange of the fully wound reel.

United States Patent [15] 3,695,527 Kobayashi et al. Oct. 3, 1972 [54]REEL SWITCHING DEVICE FOR A 3,441,229 4/1969 Henrich ..242/25 ADOUBLE-REEL PARALLEL-SHAFT TYPE CONTINUOUS WINDING MACHINE [72]Inventors: Sakae Kobayashi, Tokyo; Hiroshi Hori, Yokoham; ToshioMatsunaga, Yokosuka, all of Japan [73] Assignee: Japan Steel Works Ltd.,Tokyo,

Japan [22] Filed: Nov. 16, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 89,947

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 25, 1969 Japan..i....44/94522 [52] US. Cl. ..242/25 A [51] Int. Cl. ..B65h 54/00 [58]Field of Search ..242/25 A [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS2,674,414 4/1954 Hicks et a1. ..242/25 A FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS1,074,709 7/ 1967 Great Britain ..242/25 A 1,323,287 2/1963 France..242/25A Primary Examiner-Stanely N. Gilreath Assistant Examiner-MiltonGerstein Attorney-Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack [57] ABSTRACT In a reelswitching device for a double-reel parallelshaft type continuous windingmachine a set of pushing rollers and a set of guide rollers are providedto operate in association with the movement of a traverser to guide awire from a fully wound reel to an empty reel at the position of one ofits flanges, whereby simultaneously with the movement of the traverser,one of the pushing rollers is actuated to push the wire outwardly overthe flange of the empty reel and one of the guide rollers is actuated topush the wire inwardly away from the flange of the fully wound reel.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PIATENTED "ET 3 I972 3.695. 527

SAKAE KOBAYASHI, HIROSHI HORI and TOSHIO MATSUNAGA,

ATTORNEYS INVENTORS REEL SWITCHINGDEVICE FOR A DOUBLE-REELPARALLEL-SHAFT TYPE CONTINUOUS WINDING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION This invention relates to a double-reel parallel-shaft typecontinuous winding machine, and more particularly to a reel switchingdevice for a double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous winding machine.

A reel switching device for a double-reel parallelshaft type continuouswinding machine such as used for winding metal wires or insulated wiresserves to switch the winding of a wire from a fully would reel to anempty reel without stopping the operation of the machine.

The conventional such device has such disadvantages as being complex inconstruction, expensive, liable to trouble, and hard to maintain, inaddition to which it has problems due to low its probability of successin changing reels in a high speed winding operation particularly at wirespeeds of 1,500 m/min or above, and also due to the load exerted on thewire under winding.

The present invention is aimed at, along with eliminating such structualproblems inherent to such conventional devices, providing a very usefulreelswitching device by simplifying the structure thereof, therebyreducing the incidence of trouble and its maintenance cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention toprovide a reel switching device for a double-reel parallel-shaft typecontinuous winding machine which is simple in construction and operableat low maintenance costs.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, adouble-reel parallel-shaft type continuous winding machine is providedwith a traverser which is, at the time of the switching of the reels,adapted to be previously moved to a position in which a wire comes intocontact with the barrel of an empty reel as well as with one of theflanges of the empty reel, and further provided with pushing rollers andguide rollers which are disposed between both reel shafts so as to be atright angles to the plane containing both reel shafts and adapted to beoperated in association with the movement of the traverser. One of thepush rollers corresponding to the empty reel is actuated to push thewire outwardly over the flange of the empty reel simultaneously with themovement of the traverser toward the flange of the empty reel so thatthewire is crossed by a circle described by a snagger provided on asnagger plate that is drivingly connected to the empty reel. The wire issecurely caught by the snagger and, at the same time, one of the guiderollers corresponding to the fully would reel is cooperatively actuatedwith the movement of the push roller to push inwardly the wire of thefull wound reel so that the wire is released from a snagger provided ona snagger plate that is drivingly connected to the fully wound reel.

According to the present invention, the switching operation of reels ina double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous winding machine is securelycarried out by the cooperative action of the traverser, the pushingrollers and the guide rollers, and since the construction of theswitching device is simple, it has little trouble, its maintenance iseasy and its cost is low.

2 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS This and other objects of thepresent invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the artwhen considered in reference to the following detailed description inthe light of the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatical elevational view of an embodiment of a reelsiwtching device according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatical plan view of the reel switching device shownin FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT It will be recognized that all ofthe figures of the drawing are in part schematic in order to permit anunderstanding of invention without showing and describing unnecessarydetails.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, one of the winding shafts lof a double-reel parallel-shaft type winding machine rotates a reel 5held between a disc 2 and a snagger plate 3 which is pressed toward thedisc 2 by an air cylinder 4. As the reel 5 is rotated, a wire 7 fedthough a traverser 8 is regularly wound on the barrel 6 of the reel 5 bythe action of the traverser 8 which is moved back and forth to increasegradually the outer diameter of the barrel.

' When the wire 7 is wound on the barrel 6 of the reel 5 by a desiredlength or to a desired diameter, the winding of the wire 7 is switchedwithout stopping the operation of the machine from the reel 5 to anempty reel 5' which is arranged in parallel with the reel 5 and is heldbetween a disc 2' connected to a winding shaft 1 and a snagger plate 3'to be rotated by the shaft 1' of the winding machine. In this case, as apreparatory operation, the traverser 8, having been positioned at themid portion between both reels 5 and 5 as shown by the dot-dash line inFIG. 1, travels laterally toward the empty reel 5' and stops at aposition as shown by the solid line in FIG. I where the wire 7 touchesthe outer peripheral surface of the barrel 6' of the reel 5. Forpurposes of clarity, the structure providing for lateral movement oftraverser 8 is not described. However, such structures are known andthose skilled in the art would know how to incorporate their use in thedevice of the present invention. Such a structure is shown in US. PatNo. 3,441,229. The circumferential velocity whereby the circumferentialvelocity of the barrel 6 is regulated so as, to be the same as thetaking up velocity of the wire. Upon receipt of a signal from a devicenot shown that a definite length of the wire has been wound on the reel5, the traverser 8 is finally moved toward the inner surfaces of theflanges of the reels 5 and 5' adjoining the snagger plates 3 and 3' asshown in FIG. 2 by the solid line. At the same time, an air cylinder 9which is disposed between and outside the reels at the side thereofadjacent disc 2 and 2' is actuated to displace the upright roller 11'secured to the end of a piston rod 10' of the cylinder 9' so that thewire 7 is bent sharply at the edge of the flange of the reel 5'. In thisway, the wire 7 crosses the path of a snagger 12' secured to therotating snagger plate 3, so that the wire 7 is securely caught by thesnagger 12'. Directly thereafter, the wire 7 is cut by a cutter 13 tosever it from the wire wound on the reel 5, and the wire 7 thus beginsto be wound on the barrel 6' of the empty reel 5. In this case, a guideroller 14 disposed between and outside the reels at the side opposite tothe cylinders 9, 9 is forced to project from a position shown by adot-dash line to that shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, so that itcomes into contact with the wire 7, as a result of which the wire 7 isprevented from touching a snagger 12 provided on the snagger plate 3 ofthe fully wound reel. The roller 14 is secured to one end of a lever 16pivotally secured at its mid portion to any stationary part of themachine, and at the other end of the lever 16 is secured another uprightguide roller 14. Before the upright roller 1 1 is displaced, the guiderollers 14 and 14' occupy the positions shown bythe dot-dash line inFIG. 2, but, when the roller 11' is displaced to the position shown bythe solid line in FIG. 2, the guide roller 14' is moved to the positionshown by the solid line by the upright roller 11' so that the roller 14is pushed toward the wire 7 on the side of the fully wound reel 5 by theswing of the lever 16 about the pivot 15.

Upon completion of the switching operation in this way, the traverser 8returns to its initial position or the mid portion between both reels asshown by the dotdash line in FIG. 1. Thereafter, when a signalindicating that the full winding of the wire on the reel 5' has beencompleted is issued from the device not shown, the traverser 8 travelstoward now empty reel 5 to a position opposite to that shown by thesolid line in FIG. 1, and then moves the wire 7 toward snagger plates 3and 3', at the same time, a cylinder 9 arranged side by side with thecylinder 9 is actuated to push out its piston rod 10 so that the uprightroller 11 secured at the outer end of the rod 10 pushes the wire 7outwardly. The wire 7 is thus sharply bent at the edge of the flange ofthe reel 5 to be easily caught by the snagger 12 provided on the snaggerplate 3. It will be noted that, at this time, the guide rollers 14, 14'are moved to the positions shown by the dot-dash line due to thecooperative action of the roller 11 and the lever 16 pivoted at thepoint 15. By the operation of the guide rollers 14, 14 the wire 7 on theside of the fully wound reel 5 is securely prevented from coming intocontact with the snagger 12' of the snagger plate 3 of the fully woundreel 5.

Thus the automatic switching of the reels is alternately repeatedcontinuously without interruption of the winding operation of themachine.

It is to be understood that although one embodiment of this inventionhas been illustrated and described, it is not to be limited theretoexcept insofar as such limitations are included in the following claims:

What is claimed is:

1. in a double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous wire winding machineincluding first and second parallelly mounted winding shafts each havinga flanged reel mounted thereon between a disc and a snagger plate, eachsnagger plate having a snagger secured thereto; and a wire traversermounted above said reels; said traverser being movable back and forth ina first direction parallel to the axes of said winding shaft; saidtraverser further being movable in a second direction, perpendicular tosaid first direction and parallel to the plane containing said axes ofsaid winding shafts, from a center winding position to opposite lateralswitching positions adjacent said reels wherein the wire being wound onone of said r els is brought into contact with the outer periphery of te empty 0 er of said reels; the

improved reel switching device comprising:

a pair of parallel wire push means mounted between said reels forselectively bending said wire, when said wire is in contact with theouter periphery of said empty reel, against the flange of said emptyreel adjacent the snagger plate thereof to cause said wire to be broughtinto thev path of said snagger thereof; and pair of guide meanspivotally mounted between said reels on the side of said wire oppositesaid wire push means in opposition to said wire push means toselectively force said wire away from the path of said snagger of saidreel on which said wire is being wound when said wire is being bent bysaid wire push means.

2. The device claimed in claim 1, wherein said pair of wire push meanscomprise first and second push rollers extending perpendicular to saidplane and movable in said first direction from an inoperative positionbeyond said discs to an operative position bending said wire; said firstpush roller being positioned adjacent a first of said reels, and saidsecond push roller being positioned adjacent a second of said reels.

3. The device claimed in claim 2, wherein said pair of guide meanscomprise first and second guide rollers extending parallel to said firstand second push rollers; said guide rollers being mounted on oppositeends of a lever pivotally movable in a plane parallel to said planecontaining said axes; said first guide roller forcing said wire awayfrom the path of said snagger of said first reel when said second pushroller bends said wire into the path of said snagger of said secondreel; and said second guide roller forcing said wire away from the pathof said snagger of said second reel when said first push roller bendssaid wire into the path of said snagger of said first reel.

1. In a double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous wire winding machineincluding first and second parallelly mounted winding shafts each havinga flanged reel mounted thereon between a disc and a snagger plate, eachsnagger plate having a snagger secured thereto; and a wire traversermounted above said reels; said traverser being movable back and forth ina first direction parallel to the axes of said winding shaft; saidtraverser further being movable in a second direction, perpendicular tosaid first direction and parallel to the plane containing said axes ofsaid winding shafts, from a center winding position to opposite lateralswitching positions adjacent said reels wherein the wire being wound onone of said reels is brought into contact with the outer periphery ofthe empty other of said reels; the improved reel switching devicecomprising: a pair of parallel wire push means mounted between saidreels for selectively bending said wire, when said wire is in contactwith the outer periphery of said empty reel, against the flange of saidempty reel adjacent the snagger plate thereof to cause said wire to bebrought into the path of said snagger thereof; and a pair of guide meanspivotally mounted between said reels on the side of said wire oppositesaid wire push means in opposition to said wire push means toselectively force said wire away from the path of said snagger of saidreEl on which said wire is being wound when said wire is being bent bysaid wire push means.
 2. The device claimed in claim 1, wherein saidpair of wire push means comprise first and second push rollers extendingperpendicular to said plane and movable in said first direction from aninoperative position beyond said discs to an operative position bendingsaid wire; said first push roller being positioned adjacent a first ofsaid reels, and said second push roller being positioned adjacent asecond of said reels.
 3. The device claimed in claim 2, wherein saidpair of guide means comprise first and second guide rollers extendingparallel to said first and second push rollers; said guide rollers beingmounted on opposite ends of a lever pivotally movable in a planeparallel to said plane containing said axes; said first guide rollerforcing said wire away from the path of said snagger of said first reelwhen said second push roller bends said wire into the path of saidsnagger of said second reel; and said second guide roller forcing saidwire away from the path of said snagger of said second reel when saidfirst push roller bends said wire into the path of said snagger of saidfirst reel.